How Do You Talk to An Angel
by ChristineTheStrawberryGirl
Summary: A young girl was brutually murdered in early 1992 and everyone thought the case was solved. But a new witness comes forward sixteen years later. What secrets will be discovered?
1. Thought I'd Died and Gone to Heaven

Author's Note: I would like to begin by saying that I originally wrote this story a little over a year ago so I apologize if it's a little jumpy and does not run very smooth. On that note, please leave some criticism so I will know what to edit. Thank you very much!

Disclaimer: I own nothing even remotely associated with the brilliant television show that is "Cold Case".

**Thought I'd Died and Gone to Heaven**

**18 March 1992**

Mavis Campbell ran as fast as her weak legs could carry her. She couldn't even remember what day it was; all she knew was that she had been trapped in that hell hole for at least a week. He only fed her once a day, and even then it was something small like a piece of candy. Her once bright red hair was now greasy and her brown eyes that were so full of life before she was captured were now dull and bloodshot.

But then, her luck seemed to change. She looked across her high school's football field and saw not only someone she knew, but someone she trusted. Mavis made her way towards the bleachers where he stood and he made his way towards her in the middle of the field. The two met and she sighed in relief.

But the next thing she knew, his hand was raised and she saw that he held a baseball bat, which was something she had not seen beforehand. Whether it was because she was weak or for some other reason, she didn't know but before she could even register what he was doing, the baseball bat collided with her head. Her eyes closed a mere three seconds before she fainted.

Mavis Louise Campbell never made it home.

* * *

**Present Day**

Lilly Rush made her way into Philly's homicide division. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail with her side swept bangs loose. As she sat down at her desk, she saw her partner Scotty Valens make her way towards her.

"Hey, Boss says that some guy came in wanting to talk to us," he told her and the two walked towards one of the interview rooms.

Lilly saw that sitting in the cold room was an elderly Mexican man, looking rather nervous; he was shifting back and forth in his chair.

"Can we help you?" Lilly asked.

"Yes, my name is Carlos De Liego," the man replied with a Mexican accent that had been evened out from spending years in America. "And I was told that you two specialize in old murder cases."

Lilly sat down on the chair across from Mr. De Liego and nodded curtly. Carlos stuck his hands in one of his jacket pockets and took out a piece of newspaper, which Lilly saw was dated from 1992.

_16 Year Old Girl Found Raped, Beaten to Death After 8 Days Missing_

Lilly skimmed the article and saw that the article was about a girl named Mavis Campbell.

"Well, the night before she was found, I was out doing some shopping and saw her out on the football field talking to some guy in a letterman's jacket. I kept walking because I didn't think anything of it," Carlos told them.

"Are you sure that it was this girl you saw that night?" Valens asked, breaking his silence.

"Yeah, Mavis Campbell. She would sometimes volunteer at the apartment I lived in in 1992."

Lilly furrowed her brows. "Why didn't you share seeing her with the police back then?"

Carlos sighed. "I was an illegal in '92 and the last thing I wanted to do was deal with the police. Besides, someone was arrested a few days later."

"Then why are you telling us this?" Scotty asked.

And again, Carlos sighed. "This has been eating me for sixteen years. The man they arrested definitely wasn't who I saw on the football field that evening. I just want to make sure that the cops got the right guy."

Scotty pretended to smile. "Thank you, Mr. De Liego."

* * *

After spending the whole walk downstairs arguing whether or not to look into the case, Lilly and Scotty found themselves staring at hundreds of boxes in the storage room with Nick and Jeffries.

"I found it," Scotty announced after a good ten minutes of searching.

Lilly made her way towards Scotty, opened the box, took out the case file, and read it aloud. "Mavis Campbell, born November 18th, 1975. She went missing on March 10th, 1992 when she was walking home from school. She was found dead on the football field nine days later by the girls' soccer coach; she'd been tortured, raped, and beaten to death."

"I remember this case," Jeffries said after seeing the picture of Mavis. "A few days after the body was found, some guy came into homicide and admitted to kidnapping the girl but denied killing her."

"Nicholas Charles," Lilly supplied. "It says here that he was sentenced to life but hung himself with his bed sheets after three weeks."

"Are we really looking into this case again?" Nick asked skeptically.

"A guy came in and said he saw Mavis talking to someone in a letterman jacket on the football field the night before her body was found," Lilly answered.

"Great. Let's go tell the family we're looking into their daughter's solved murder case," Scotty said bitterly. Lilly smirked as everyone made their way out of the storage room.


	2. Real Love

**Real Love**

The Campbell house was very picturesque and Lilly felt as if she had stepped into one of those 'Good Housekeeping' magazines. Richard and Carolyn Campbell, Mavis's parents, and Edward Campbell, Mavis's older brother, were sitting on a couch while Lilly and Scotty sat on an adjacent loveseat.

Lilly decided to start. "Mr. and Mrs. Campbell, some new evidence has recently come to light and we are looking into Mavis's murder again," Lilly softly declared.

Carolyn's face instantly turned white and she stood up. "I beg your pardon!"

"Don't worry, Mrs. Campbell, we don't think that Nicholas Charles is innocent but we still need to investigate all possible angles," Scotty assured her.

Carolyn rolled her eyes and turned around to go upstairs. Richard immediately got up and went after her, but stopped at the bottom step before ascending.

"You'll have to excuse her," he told the detectives, "It's just that it took her nearly two years to become normal again."

Lilly nodded and then turned her attention towards Edward. "How old were you when your sister was murdered?" she asked him.

"I was 21. Ava always kind of looked up to me."

"Ava?" Scotty asked in slight bewilderment.

"Yeah, Mavis hated her name so we always called her Ava," Edward replied.

"Did Ava know anyone that played sports?" Scotty asked.

"Not really. She usually stayed away from those kinds of guys, but her boyfriend

and her best friend Hannah's boyfriend were on the football team."

"Do you remember their names," Lilly asked, taking out her notebook and pen.

"Ava was dating David Castillo and Hannah was with Ryan Kennedy."

* * *

Jeffries rung the doorbell to the house where David currently lived, but a woman in her mid-thirties answered. She was a petite, standing at only 5ft. 3in with blonde hair and big, blue, doe eyes.

"Philadelphia Homicide. We're here to talk to David Castillo," Jeffries announced, showing his badge.

The woman's eyes widened with acknowledgement. "Oh, of course! My brother Ed told me that you two would be coming," the woman told them as she moved aside to let them in.

"Your brother is Ed? As in Ed Campbell?" Nick asked.

"Yes. I'm Danielle, his younger sister. He called and told me that you were looking into our sister's murder. Excuse me, I'll go get David," Danielle told them and left the living room.

"Ava's older sister married her boyfriend," Jeffries exclaimed.

"Yeah. Pretty weird if you ask me," Nick replied.

Jeffries smiled and opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted by a man in his early thirties who came walking into the room.

"Hello, you must be the detectives. I'm David and this is my wife Dani," David said.

David motioned for everyone to sit down and Nick began. "We understand that you were dating Ava at the time of her death."

David smiled sadly. "That's correct."

"Was there anybody else that might have been interested in her?" Jeffries asked.

"Ava was a very pretty girl but not that many people noticed her. She was a tad awkward around people she didn't know, but that didn't stop Ryan," David said.

"Ryan Kennedy?" Nick asked just to make sure.

"Yeah. He was dating Ava's best friend Hannah but he didn't exactly make it a secret that he had a crush on Ava," David explained.

* * *

**8 February 1992**

David and Ava sat in the crowded Middleton High School cafeteria, sorting through their food. Seriously, why can't the cafeteria make normal food? David glanced up and saw that Ryan Kennedy was making his way towards them. In truth, David felt kind of bad for the guy; the only thing he had going for him was his girlfriend Hannah, but she wasn't here today so he had no one today.

"So, Ava, are you going to the Valentine's Day Dance," Ryan asked as soon as he sat down.

Ava pouted playfully. "No," she nudged David slightly. "David has to work that night."

Ryan's eyes glowed for a second. "You could come with me."

Ava smiled politely. "What about Hannah?"

Ryan scoffed. "What about her?"

Ava rolled her eyes. "She is your girlfriend after all. Go with her."

"All right, but if you want me to tell her I'm busy, give me the word," Ryan beamed.

* * *

After David shared his recollection, Jeffries and Nick went back to the car.

"I think we should check with Ryan's old girlfriend Hannah and see if she backs up David's story," Nick said as he got out his cell phone to call Lilly.


	3. November Rain

**November Rain**

Hannah Larson's hair wisped in the wind as she stood outside, cigarette in hand, listening to the detectives.

"We're here to talk about Mavis Campbell," Lilly informed her.

"Ava," Hannah said with a remembering smile. "She was such a sweet kid. She sure as hell didn't deserve what happened to her."

"David Castillo told us that your boyfriend at the time was crushing on Ava bad." Scotty mentioned.

Hannah laughed slightly at the memory of Ryan. "Yeah, he definitely had a crush on Ava." Hannah rolled her eyes. "God, he was such a mistake. But I wanted to say that I dated a football player, you know?"

"Weren't you pissed that your boyfriend had a thing for your best friend?" Lilly asked.

Hannah scoffed slightly. "Not really. I mean, Ava never gave off any signals that she liked him, so I just thought that the whole thing would blow over. You know, I remember this one time a few weeks before we breaked for Thanksgiving."

* * *

**4 November ****1991**

Hannah smiled as she walked out of her student council meeting, thankful that it had ended twenty minutes early. She quickly made her way to the front door where Ava and Ryan were waiting for her on the front steps. As soon as she reached the door, Hannah would have just jumped out the door, but she saw something that stopped her.  
Ryan had leaned forward to kiss Ava, but she turned away. "Ryan, you're dating my best friend and I already have a boyfriend," she told him sweetly.

_God, that girl is too sweet for her own good._

Ryan's face quickly contorted and he quickly lifted his arm up, his hands in a fist. Hannah jumped outside, just in case he was really going to hit her. "Hey guys," she said as she noticed Ryan put his arm down, thinking maybe his girlfriend hadn't noticed it was even up in the first place. "Let's go," Hannah suggested and the three made their way home.

* * *

"I had never in my life seen someone look so upset," Hannah finished.

"Do you know where Ryan is now," Lilly asked.

"Last I heard he was working at Wal-Mart."

* * *

Ryan Kennedy sat in the cold interview room, his hands shaking from nerves.

"Where were you the night Mavis Campbell died?" Scotty asked him forcefully

"At home," he practically yelled. "After Ava went missing, my parents got scared and made me stay home every night."

"We heard that you tried to kiss Mavis but she turned you down," Lilly pushed. "I'll bet you were pretty pissed about that weren't you?"

"Yes I was angry but I was at home with my parents," Ryan protested.  
"We'll check that out, but in the mean time, stay close," Scotty warned

* * *

Later that night, Lilly and Det. Stillman were sitting around her desk and looking noncholantly at Ava Campbell's file.

"You know, Boss, I'm beginning to think that maybe Nicholas Charles didn't kill Ava," Lilly sighed after reading the cause of death report for the third time that day.

Stillman nodded in agreement. "Maybe we should ask the Campbells' permission to dig up her body for new DNA evidence."

Lilly looked at her boss worriedly. "I somehow doubt that they will consent to that."

This time, Stillman sighed. "Well, we could always get a court order if worst comes to worst. Goodnight, Lil," He said as he made his way out the door.

Walking out the door he passed by a young woman who couldn't have been passed the age of thirty. The woman, with light black hair, walked towards Lilly's desk.

"Hi, I'm Lorelai Winston. I understand that you're looking into Ava Campbell's murder again?"

At this, Lilly looked up. "Yes, I am. Can I help you?"

Lorelai sat down and a pang of sadness could be seen through her hazel eyes. "I'm Ava's younger sister. I was only ten when she passed away and I would have come sooner, but I live up in Massachusetts and all that." Lorelai took a deep breathe. "But, um, I might be able to tell you something that I didn't tell the police back then. It's just that when you're ten years old, your older sister means the world to you and if she tells you to keep a secret for her, you do it even after she dies and I didn't even think it was relevant, especially after Charles was arrested-"

"Calm down," Lilly suavely told her. She then fumbled through her desk drawer and pulled out a notebook and a pen. She smiled at Lorelai and asked, "What do you have?"

* * *

**21 January 1992**

Lorelai stumbled out of bed for the third time that night and dragged her teddy bear with her. For some reason she had been having trouble sleeping, but usually as soon as she went into Ava's room, she fell sound asleep. So, having some sense, that's where she headed.

She opened the door, with some struggle, and saw Ava, straddling her windowsill.

"What are you doing, Ava?" Lorelai asked sleepily.

Ava came back into her room and kneeled down to Lorelai's level. "Hey there, sweetie. Look, I'm about to meet some friends of mine okay. But mom and dad don't know about them, so could you do me a favor and not mention this to them?"

Lorelai nodded.

"Tell you what," Ava smiled. "I'll let you sleep in my bed a whole month if you never say another word about this. Promise?"

Lorelai smiled. "Promise."

And the two locked pinkies.


	4. Remember the Time

**Remember The Time**

Lilly furrowed her brows as she listened to Lorelai's story. "Do you know who these friends of Ava's were?"

Lorelai shook her head. "All that I know is that one of the girl's names was Kendra and that she dropped out of high school. She was about two years older than Ava."

* * *

"I found her," Stillman announced two days after Lorelai had come to visit Lilly. "Kendra Davidson, dropped out of Middleton High School in 1989. She's a parolee that lives about twenty miles outside the city."

"What was she arrested for?"

"Selling cocaine out of her garage."

* * *

"What a dump," Scotty commented as soon as he and Lilly had reached Kendra Davidson's place of residence.

She lived in a trailer, and not even a nice one at that. There were dozens of cats that were sitting on the steps leading up to the front door, and Lilly had to step over quite a few to reach the door.

A woman, who they assumed to be Kendra, opened the door. She had faded blonde hair as if she had spent too much time out in the sun and her eyes were red from tiredness.

"Philly Homicide; do you mind if we talk with you a moment?"

Kendra moved aside so Lilly and Scotty could enter her humble abode. Sitting down on the couch, Lilly was the first to speak.

"We're reinvestigating Ava Campbell's murder."

"Who," Kendra asked dumbly.

"Mavis Campbell," Scotty sternly answered.

"Oh, yeah. Why didn't you say that?"

"We did," Lilly replied..

"No, no, no. Mavis hated bein' called Ava," Kendra said.

"We were under the impression that she liked it," Scotty replied tersely..

"Well you were misinformed. She hated it. She told me so," Kendra mused. "Why are you looking into all that again? That guy already got his sentence."

"We recently received more information," Lilly told.

"Well, since you're here I might as well pop all your theories that you have," Kendra said as she lighted a cigarette.

"What do you mean?"

"Mavis wasn't the little princess that everyone thought she was. Oh no, she was a little spitfire, she was."

"Beg pardon?"

"Mavis was a druggie. Bet you didn't see that coming," Kendra inhaled her cigarette. "But she did say something strange a few days before she went missing, like so strange that it wasn't the drugs making her say that shit."

* * *

**5 March 1993**

Kendra was sitting on the couch of her apartment with her latest boyfriend when she heard someone knock on the door. Kendra figured that it was Mavis; she always came over for beer and to snort cocaine. But when Kendra opened the door, a surprise waited for her.

It was Mavis at the door but she was already drunk. "Hi Kendra! How are you?" Mavis's words were slurred, so Kendra was sure that Mavis was wasted.

Mavis came in and sat down on the couch; Kendra's boyfriend, seeing the young girl drunk, decided to leave. He didn't bother to say goodbye but Kendra didn't care.

"Oh my god," Mavis exclaimed and she ran into the bathroom down the hall. Kendra followed her and saw Mavis throwing up. If she threw up anymore, Kendra was sure that Mavis's small intestines would come out.

"It's okay, sweetheart," Kendra cooed as she sat down beside Mavis and gently rubbed her back as more of her stomach contents came up.

"He's going to kill me," Mavis said after she had finished. She was now wiping the inside of her mouth in an attempt to rid of the aftertaste.

"Who's going to kill you?"

"I just never thought that he was capable until the other day. Ken, I'm so afraid."

Kendra kept asking who it was that Mavis was afraid of, but no answer was to come. Eventually, Mavis passed out on the bathroom floor.

* * *

"Do you have any idea who Mavis was talking about," Lilly asked intrigued.

"Not a clue," Kendra admitted. "She may have told Jack, though."

"Who is Jack?"

"Jack Lindsay. He and Mavis had a fling. He was about 24 back then; he's the one who bought the alcohol for me."


	5. To Be With You

**To Be With You**

Scotty and Lilly had had no problem tracking Jack Lindsay down. He was a doctor now and working in the Emergency Room at Breckinridge Memorial Hospital. Two days after speaking with Kendra, they decided to pay Dr. Lindsay a visit.

"Are you Jack Lindsay," Scotty asked a man who looked to be in his early forties.

"Yes," he told the detectives and when they asked to speak to him privately, he led them to the doctors' lounge.

Lilly had to admit that he was extremely handsome. A part of her couldn't blame Mavis for being attracted to him. His sandy blonde hair was just starting to show gray at the temples and his icy blue eyes looked worn out, but Lilly could imagine how he looked sixteen years ago.

"We're looking into the murder of Mavis Campbell and we were told that you two had somewhat of a fling going on," Scotty told Jack.

"Look, I know it must look bad. I was 24 and she was 16, but I really did have feelings for her." Jack smiled. "I was in love with her."

"Kendra Davidson told us that you supplied her with alcohol?"

"Yeah. Kendra was my step-cousin, and she would pay me to pick up her booze for her and her friends. I had been doing this for a couple of years before Mavis started to come around. I remember when I first met her."

* * *

**14 September 1991**

Jack let himself into Kendra's apartment. Her mother had married his Uncle James a couple of years ago and the two had a deal: if he bought her alcohol, she would give him enough money for all of it plus another seventy dollars. Hey, who was he to complain?

He glanced at his wristwatch and saw that it was a little after midnight. He looked all around and saw the usual group of kids, but he noticed someone new. She had beautiful red hair and a powerful face. Jack decided to go sit next to her.

After several rows were snorted and dozens of tequila shots were downed, the girl introduced herself to Jack, just now noticing that he was even there.

"I'm Mavis," she said as she giggled.

"Jack," he replied and held out his hand for her to shake. "We should go out sometime."

At this, she held her head back in laughter. It was a sweet laugh, but loud. "I already have a boyfriend," she told him. "But between you and me, I know that he really has a crush on my older sister."

"Well I think that you should be with someone that only has eyes for you."

Mavis turned to Jack and really studied him. His blue eyes were full of life and his blonde hair was a bit scruffy. Even though he was sitting down she could tell that he was tall, definitely taller than her. She herself was 5ft 10in so it was hard to find a guy who was truly taller than her. Hell, even David was half an inch shorter than her.

"Alright then, one date," Mavis told him while her brown eyes bore into his. "What's your last name?" She asked, suddenly aware that she didn't know.

"Lindsay. What's yours?"

"Campbell."

* * *

"Kendra also told us that Mavis was addicted to drugs," Scotty said.

Jack suddenly laughed. "No, no. Later that night she got so sick from the cocaine that she swore she'd never do any hard drugs again. From then on, whenever she was at Kendra's all she did was drink a few drinks."

"And, exactly how serious were you two?"

"Well, she called me one day before school and told me that she was finally going to break it off with her boyfriend as soon as she saw him."

"Do you remember what day that was?" Lilly asked

"The day she went missing," Jack replied.

* * *

"I didn't think it was important," David Castillo yelled in the interview room.

"How is your girlfriend breaking up with you the very day she went missing not important?" Scotty asked sternly.

"Look, I wasn't even upset when Ava broke it off with me. I was just some dumb kid; I wasn't even in love. Besides, I wasn't exactly single for long," he smirked.

"What do you mean," Lilly asked.

* * *

**10 March 1992**

David sat in the Campbell's living room waiting for Ava to come home. She had had a French Club meeting that afternoon and she asked if he could please meet her at her house, for she wanted to talk about the reasons for their breakup. Truth be told, he wasn't all that upset. Sure, he cared for Ava a lot but he couldn't picture her as his wife.

He heard the front door open and looked up, expecting to see Ava but it was Dani. She noticed him sitting on the couch all alone and came to sit next to him.

"What are you doing here," she asked.

"Waiting for Ava. She broke up with me this morning."

"Oh, I'm sorry. She never was all that bright," Dani joked.

"Ah, it's alright. I'm not too upset," David sheepishly replied.

"I know how to make heartbreak go away."

David turned to Dani, but her lips met with his. He instantly responded, he had had a crush on Dani for years and everyone knew it. She had had a crush on him for years as well.


	6. Just Take My Heart

**Just Take My Heart**

"Of course I was upset when Ava started to date David, but I couldn't blame anybody but myself," Danielle Campbell Castillo told Lilly and Scotty a few hours later after they had hauled her off to the police department.

"What do you mean," Lilly asked.

Dani rolled her eyes. "I had never told Ava that I had feelings for David. Trust me, if I had she never would have gone for him."

Scotty suddenly had a glint in his eyes and he looked at Lilly to silently tell her what he was about to do.

"Well if you ask me, I'd say that we have the perfect motive for Dani here to kill Mavis. She was pissed that her tall, gawky, redheaded sister landed the guy that she, the petite, blonde haired, blue eyed sister, couldn't get."

"No!" Dani yelled, punching her fists against the table. "That wasn't the case. I knew that it wasn't going to last much longer between Ava and David, so I just decided to wait for it to be over"

"What makes you say that they wouldn't have lasted," Lilly asked.

"About three weeks before Ava went missing, I saw something."

* * *

**17 February 1992**

Dani was out walking the family dog Jackson. She needed to get some fresh air. Earlier that afternoon she had gotten into a fight with her parents. She was walking past a park when she saw Ava standing, talking with that kid Ryan Kennedy.

Dani noticed that neither of them had seen her, so she decided to stay hidden but she stayed close enough so that she could hear their conversation.

"Thank you so much, Ryan. I really do appreciate it," Ava said and gave Ryan a huge hug. "But please don't tell my parents what we did."

Dani saw Ava kiss Ryan on the cheek and the two left. After it was all clear, Dani kept on walking, trying to process the entire scene. Ava had told her that Ryan Kennedy partially scared her. What was going on?

* * *

Once again, Ryan Kennedy sat in the cold, dark interview room. He didn't know what else the detectives had discovered, but he was sure that he was still the prime suspect.

Lilly and Jeffries recalled Dani's story of what she had seen between Ava and Ryan. After she had finished, Ryan started to laugh.

"What Dani saw was Ava thanking me for helping her out."

"What exactly did you do?" Jeffries asked.

"I helped her get Mr. and Mrs. Campbell to sign a consent form without the two knowing what they were consenting to."

"A consent form for what?" Lilly asked roughly.

Ryan smiled lightly. "For a marriage where one of the parties is underage; Ava and Jack got married about a month before she went missing.

* * *

"So, why didn't you tell us that you and Mavis had gotten married a month before she went missing?" Lilly asked an unsuspecting Jack Lindsay.

"I didn't say anything because when we got married I had sworn to her that I'd never tell no matter what. I didn't think anyone knew about our marriage except Ryan, and I didn't want to tell people until Mavis was ready," Jack told, his voice becoming slightly choked up.

Jack looked down at his hands, and Lilly saw something that she hadn't noticed during her and Scotty's last visit with him. He wore a silver wedding band on his ring finger. He lifted up his left hand for a better view.

"This is the ring that Mavis gave me on February 2nd, 16 years ago. Mavis wasn't just some girl that I thought would be a good one to screw around with; she was _the_ love of my life. I've never even considered dating another woman since I met her," Jack said. He lifted his head and looked straight at Lilly.

"You know, I always knew that, had she lived, it would have only been a matter of time before she went to college and meet some guy who she just thought was the most interesting person she'd ever met, someone who made her realize what true love was. And how could I stop her when she told me she didn't want to be married to me anymore because she had found a true love," Jack somberly said.

At that moment, Lilly realized that Jack Lindsay had fallen in love once and only once in his entire lifetime. He had fallen completely in love with Mavis Campbell. She gently grabbed Jack's hand. "Mavis died with her hear belonging to you, and therefore it will always be yours."

* * *

Hannah Larson stepped into the police department. She had gotten a call from Lilly Rush and was asked if she could stop by and speak to them.

"I'm here," she announced as she saw Lilly.

"Good," Lilly smiled. "Follow me," she said and led Hannah into the interview room. "Did you know about Ava and Jack Lindsay?"

"Yeah, Ryan told me that they were together but he made it out to be like they were just two dumb kids who thought they were invincible. I didn't really give it a second thought until after Ava had been missing for a few days."

"And why is that?"

* * *

**15 March 1992**

Hannah was in the Campbells' kitchen helping Carolyn make dinner for the family. Ava had been missing for five days or so and Hannah had decided to that it would be helpful for her to come over and help out, for the family was a wreck.

Lately she had been thinking about what Ryan had told her about Ava and Jack. The thought had crossed her mind that maybe they had run away together. After all, both Hannah and Ava knew that Eddie Campbell had gone to high school with Jack for about a year and Eddie didn't like Jack; they had never gotten into a fight, it was just that Eddie didn't like Jack. He was a lowlife.

Hannah went into the living room and saw Eddie, staring blankly at the television. He had definitely taken Ava's disappearance the hardest. She sat beside Eddie.

"Hey, Eddie, can I talk to you for a second?"

"Sure," he grunted.

"Well, a friend of mine told me that Ava and Jack Lindsay have been having a relationship. So maybe she wasn't kidnapped after all and they just ran away together."

This statement caught Eddie's attention. He jerked his head towards Hannah. "My sister knows better than to hang around with a bum like Lindsay."

* * *

"He was pretty upset about the idea. He even threatened to go out and find them so he could bring Ava back home," Hannah concluded.

"Did he," Lilly asked.

"Yeah, he just left the house in search of them and told me that he was going to 'fix this'. I doubt he found them, though. But he put his letterman jacket on and everything – he only did that when he wanted to intimidate someone."

This clicked in Lilly's head. "When was that?"

"The night before they found her body on the football field."


	7. Thinkin' Back

**Thinkin' Back**

For the first time in his life, Edward Campbell felt scared. Lilly and Scotty had come to his house and asked for him to accompany them back to the police station. He didn't think it was much until just now after seeing their stern faces.

"We heard that the night before Ava's body was found you went out to find her."

"I didn't actually expect to find her," he started.

* * *

**18 March 1992**

Eddie was walking on the football field bleachers, trying to clear his head. He couldn't believe that someone as intelligent as Ava had fallen into that bum Lindsay's trap. He didn't know why he couldn't stand Jack, for they had never actually met, but there was something that he just didn't trust.

A noise was made in the distance and Eddie looked up. What he saw simple amazed him. He saw the top of Ava's head running in his direction. Eddie made his way closer to the actual field. Ava saw him, cried out his name in desperation, and ran towards him.

"Oh, Eddie, thank God," she breathed as soon as they had met on the 20 yard line.

Eddie looked his sister over. Her clothes were ripped, blood stains were on her skirt, dried cuts were all over her legs and face, and her hair was a greasy mess.

"Where's Lindsay," Eddie demanded.

"What? I don't know. Come on, Eddie, I have to get home," she pleaded.

"No. Lindsay forced you to come with him and now look at you. He beat you up like nobody's business."

Ava slightly smiled. "No, Jack wouldn't do that to me. We got married. See," Ava held up her left hand to show off her wedding band. "We've been married about a month," she explained.

Eddie's face turned from angry to furious. He had carried a baseball bat with him but he had forgotten about it until now. In his fit, he lifted the bat up and struck Ava on her head. She fell down, but her eyes stayed open.

"You could have so much better," Eddie yelled at her. He got on his knees and slid up Ava's skirt. The entire time, he kept screaming 'So much better than him'.

After he finished, Eddie looked down at Ava. He didn't realize that she had been crying almost the entire time. Her face told him that she was scared. He couldn't believe it. He had just did that with his sister, his own flesh and blood.

Eddie took his baseball bat off of the ground and hit Ava's head as heard as he could five times.

Edward Campbell ran straight home, but not before taking the wedding band off of Mavis's left hand. He couldn't face what he had done, so he killed the only evidence that would remind him that it had actually happened.

* * *

Three weeks after Edward Campbell was arrested for the murder and rape of his sister, the rest of the Campbell brood decided to meet at the cemetery. Jack Lindsay suddenly walks up to Carolyn Campbell and squeezes her hand tightly.

Ava's headstone had recently been replaced, for Carolyn felt that the name change was necessary, especially after meeting Jack.

Jack took out a red rose from his pocket and placed it on Mavis's headstone.

Mavis Campbell Lindsay


End file.
